Gamers and Stereotypes

The psychology of gamers is something often left to the scholars, but only because no one wants to see how stereotypical we are. So let's break it down with into the archetypes and explain why each are pretty accurate.

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The psychotic:

Psychotic people rarely pose a danger to modern society, but this is because we offer them plenty of outlets for their emotional outlets. The greatest ones we offer are video games.

Video games are inexpensive and plentiful, they are also very safe. Every time a psychotic becomes a danger they focus on the number of video games they have, while ignoring the trigger to cause them to become violent in real life.

In every instance there is either a lack of new releases or the people in charge prevent them from getting their fix. The flaw is not in the games, it is our inability to diagnose psychotic tendencies in people before they commit real world violence.

Prior to games we had other media outlets, like movies and television shows, even radio. Prior to all that, we were so violent as a species that no one noticed the psychotic people anyway.

So better diagnosis and more video games will reduce their desire to harm other people in the real world. Video games become the best medicine for them.

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The lonely nerd:

We all know these people, at one time they were wrongfully associated with Star Trek fans, and often they were forced deeper into isolation. Then online video games came along and gave them a new way to socialise.

These are the introverts created by society, and strewn about so much that they were unable to socialise with their own. This created the stereotype that reclusive people are maladjusted, which is just paranoia caused by misunderstanding them.

A nerd is actually more attuned to social trends than most of us, they know what's popular and why, but as a society we see them as awkward and uncoordinated. Ultimately, a nerd would make a great marketing genius, able to even predict the next big fad before it happens.

Even today we tend to force them to become more reclusive, but video games over the internet have allowed them to congregate with their own. Essentially this means they are now more social than the rest of us.

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Over competitive muscle brain:

This type of gamer is rarely given the spotlight, even though they are truly the most disturbing. In the past we only saw them at sporting events, but today we see them in every subculture in the world, even video games.

These are people who are more interested in proving that they are the best than enjoying what they are doing. They are also the bread and butter of sports.

The advent of gaming has offered them a new field of competition, one in which they are even willing to cheat to prove their superiority. To them, the games are not fun outlets of aggression or methods of socializing with people like them, they are another arena to prove that they are better.

Every good gamer will admit that the muscle brain is ruining online video games as a whole, but we have little recourse. These people will always be in every arena spoiling everyone's fun.

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The perverts:

As with everything that exists, there are those who sexualize gaming. This is rather inconsequential and does not need to ruin everyone's fun, though many will complain about these people for no reason.

The complaining does retract from the enjoyment of others, because sex drive increases revenue of any product, for game this means the developers can finance more games. So suck it up, play the games, and stop worrying about the mouth breathers who are probably the real reason the game was able to be published.

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The gamer geek:

This is the most sane of the gamer archetypes, and I'm not saying that just because I am one. This is the classifications of gamers who look at the games objectively, while enjoying the rich stories and elaborate worlds presented.

To us, the game is a reflection of real life, a reflection of social structures which can be analyzed and enjoyed. A gamer geek often finds exploits, but never uses them.

We also find beauty in the art, even in primitive games like those from the old eight bit systems. We are the ones who insist on box art, high quality manuals, and other collector quality paraphernalia.

Another label we could be given is "game snobs."

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So the next time someone tries to lump all gamers into one group, or blame our outlet for their own problems, remember this blog. Most likely the people trying to discredit games and gamers are actually just jealous, because ultimately, the games allow us to live among the morons and scumbags.